Bucky’s 8 Rules for Humanity’s Survival

Buckminster Fuller‘s ideas from decades ago are still profoundly relevant today. Here are Bucky’s eight essential “integrities for living” which he shared with me in May of 1982, during one of his trademark one-on-one “all I know” lectures. It was the year before he died. The only way he would let me leave our second five hour session – at 2 a.m. – was if I promised I would one day share these ideas with you. So here they are, Bucky’s rules for the survival of our species:

1. REALIGN WITH NATURE. Despite what we have been taught, it is not our role to dominate nature, but to live by her rules. Nature is never wrong. She wants us to succeed, but she does not depend on us. We are not her only experiment. She can sweep us aside like a bad case of fleas and start over, if we don’t conform to her rules. Her principles guide everything.

2. EVOLVE CONSCIOUSLY. This is about stretching ourselves to arrive more quickly at the place Nature is already leading us. As the first species on Earth aware of our capacity to destroy ourselves, we also know we have a choice. If we can evolve consciously, together, by embracing values of compassion, cooperation, and community, we can affect our own future as a species. Only then we can “begin to make all the right choices for all the right reasons.”

3. DEMAND AND SPEAK THE TRUTH. Seek the truth. Know the truth. And then, speak the truth. If this was our true ‘religion’ everything else would fall into place. Take time to become informed about what’s going on, so that you will know what you are talking about. Beware of masterfully crafted messages, designed to deceive.

4. REMAIN COMPREHENSIVE.Humans are becoming too specialized. We must resist being pigeonholed as specialists and keep our eyes forever on the big picture. Bucky was not just an architect, a scientist, a mathematician, a poet, an author, a mapmaker, an inventor and a philosopher; but in consciously devoting his life to serve all humanity, he was also greater than the sum his parts. He even introduced the world to the word “synergy” and coined the phrase “Think global. Act local.“ He called on us all to do the same. Overspecialization (reliance on only fossil fuels, for example) will lead to our extinction.

5. ACCEPT ABUNDANCE. Current economic theory is based on the outdated notions such as the assumption of scarcity. Technological capabilities exist to move beyond an ‘us versus them’ scenario to one of ‘enough for all’. It is a fallacy of today that there is not enough.

6. DEMAND LIVINGRY. After serving in the Navy during World War I, Bucky was dismayed that technological innovations used to kill weren’t also turned around and applied to creating more life. He called for a focus away from weaponry and killingry technologies, and toward ‘livingry’, or life supporting enterprises and inventions. This calls for a new feminine paradigm of leadership, focused on creating abundance. Once we set out the objective to take care of 100% of humanity without ecological harm, we have a chance of making it happen.

7. EPHEMERILIZE EVERYTHING.As technology evolves, we continue to increase our ability to do more and more with less and less. This is Bucky’s concept of ephemerizaliton. A great example is how something as small as a phone connects you to the entire world. Writing a letter to the president once took paper, ink, envelopes, and several days. Now you click a link and dash off your thoughts (although a handwritten letter is more powerful!) We must use ephemerilization to help us reduce our massive carbon footprint. Leading the way in clean energy development can also make America a leader again. Humanity has amazing potential to do more with less.

8. KNOW YOUR POWER. The ordinary individual human being can accomplish things that no government or corporation can. Not subjected to the will of stockholders or bureaucracies, an individual can do as he or she sees fit with great untapped power. Bucky’s famous “trim tab” idea illustrates this, showing how a small tab on a small rudder is what turns a huge ocean liner around.

Bucky said if we follow these rules and pass our final examination as a species on United Spaceship Planet Earth, everything will get easier and better, and surely that is at least worth a try.

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Author: Patricia Ravasio

Author, activist, mother of three. My passion is to bring Buckminster Fuller's ideas and visions back into the world: "To make the world work for 100% of humanity, through spontaneous cooperation, without ecological harm or disadvantage to anyone."
View all posts by Patricia Ravasio